The sentencing of former Economics professor Rafael Robb, which was scheduled for yesterday, was postponed out of defense concerns that a vigil for his dead wife would affect the hearing.
A new sentencing date for Robb - who pleaded guilty last November to voluntary manslaughter for killing his wife, Ellen - is tentatively set for Nov. 19.
Gary Gregory, Ellen Robb's brother, said they decided to hold Friday's vigil outside the Montgomery County Courthouse to honor Ellen's memory and to support the charity set up in her honor, the Every Great Reason Foundation.
The foundation supports women who experience domestic abuse by a significant other.
Gregory added that he trusts the judgement made by Judge Paul Tressler to postpone the sentencing.
"It's the justice process at work and the judge is a very strong judge," he said, adding that granting an extension "is his prerogative."
Before Tressler decided to postpone the sentencing, former District Attorney Bruce Castor, a prosecutor in the case, said there would be no reason for a postponement because the case is being determined by a judge, not by a jury.
"There's no way a judge's thinking will be affected by a vigil," he said Friday morning.
Castor remains a prosecutor on the case despite having become a county commissioner.
Robb's attorney, Frank DeSimone, said he would not comment about the case.
This is not the first time Robb's sentencing has been rescheduled.
He was scheduled to be sentenced last May, but the defense asked for a postponement and requested that Tressler allow Ellen and Rafael Robb's mental-health records to be reviewed and used in the sentencing.
Tressler agreed to turn the records over to the prosecution and defense over the summer.
In Robb's guilty plea, he said that he bludgeoned his wife to death in December 2006 with a chin-up bar after they got into an argument over their daughter's vacation plans.
"I just lost it," he said.
According to Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines, a standard sentence for a voluntary manslaughter plea is four-and-a-half to six years in prison.
If Robb receives a sentence in the aggravated range, however, he could face as many as 10 to 20 years.
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